SEARCH · PubMed Health
Explore indexed PubMed citations for clinical trials, systematic reviews and public health research. Read source abstracts and follow each citation to its original PubMed record.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Movement disorder emergencies are uncommon in the perioperative period; however, when they occur, then carry significant morbidity. By paying attention to the phenomenology of the movement disorder, the effects of medications administered in the operating room, and unusual sequelae of surgery, neurologists can have a positive impact on the outcome of these patients.
The present study investigates the occurrence of post-traumatic movement disorders in survivors of severe head injury. We studied a series of 398 consecutive patients who were admitted to the hospital with a Glasgow Coma Score of 8 or less after they sustained a head trauma. One hundred thirty-four out of 398 patients (34%) died after they were admitted to the hospital or in the further course. A recent follow-up was obtained in 221 of the 264 remaining patients (84%). Follow-up consisted of a three-level assessment, including questionnaires, telephone interviews, and personal examinations. Fifty out of 221 patients (22.6%) had developed movement disorders secondary to the head trauma, which were transient in 23 patients (10.4%) and persistent in 27 patients (12.2%). Forty-two patients (19%) had tremors, nine (4.1%) had dystonia, and seven (3.2%) had other movement disorders. Twelve patients (5.4%) had disabling low-frequency kinetic tremors (2.5 to 4 Hz) or dystonia, or both. Low-frequency kinetic tremors developed with a latency from 2 weeks to 6 months after trauma, and dystonia with a latency from 2 months to 2 years. When compared with patients without movement disorders, this subgroup was characterized by a different distribution profile of Glasgow Coma Scores with a higher proportion of lower scores on admission (p < 0.05). When we compared the initial CT findings, there were highly significant associations between generalized brain edema and the occurrence of any movement disorders, between generalized brain edema and the occurrence of persistent movement disorders, and between generalized brain edema and the occurrence of kinetic tremors and dystonia. We detected similar associations for focal cerebral lesions, but not for subdural and epidural hematomas. In conclusion, transient or persistent movement disorders are common sequelae in survivors of severe head injury. Disabling movement disorders such as kinetic tremors and dystonia, however, occur only in a small group of patients.
We reviewed the epidemiological aspects of antipsychotic-induced movement disorders as they pertain to older patients. The incidence and prevalence of drug-induced parkinsonism and tardive dyskinesia (TD) are significantly greater in the older patient than in the younger patient whereas akathisia seems to occur evenly across the age spectrum and dystonia is uncommon among older patients. The literature on risk factors associated with treatment-emergent movement disorders is highly variable. Treatment practices vary across the age range and the interaction between age and antipsychotic dosage confounds our understanding of the relative importance of treatment-related risk factors. However, there is general agreement that pre-existing extrapyramidal signs (EPS) increase the vulnerability of the patient to developing significant drug-induced movement disorders. Elderly patients with dementia are at greater risk than patients without dementia for persistent drug-induced EPS. Management of drug-induced movement disorders in the older patient requires careful consideration of the contraindications imposed by such agents as anticholinergics and beta-blockers. At present, well-controlled double-blind studies of second-generation antipsychotics such as clozapine, risperidone. olanzapine or quetiapine for reducing the risk of treatment-emergent movement disorders in the elderly have not been published. However, open-label studies of atypical antipsychotics demonstrate a markedly lower incidence of both EPS and TD compared with conventional antipsychotic treatment in the elderly. There is emerging literature in support of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of existing drug-induced movement disorders. More controversial is the use of adjunctive antioxidants in newly treated patients who are vulnerable to drug-induced movement disorders. While the evidence is mixed in support of antioxidants for the treatment of TD, the possibility remains that prophylactic use of antioxidants may help reduce the incidence of TD. The development of a drug-induced movement disorder often reduces the quality of life in an elderly patient. Effective pharmacological management requires cooperation from the patient and family, which can be fostered early in the patient's care through proper informed consent. The risks and benefits of antipsychotic treatment in the elderly patient need to be communicated to the patient and family. At the present time, there is no consistently effective treatment for patients with TD once it develops. Therefore, attention should focus on its prevention and close monitoring.
The hallmark of a supranuclear eye movement disorder is a functional impairment of one or several types of different eye movements while other types of eye movements still work. All eye movement information is conveyed via the nuclei of the eye muscle nerves. However, the information for a specific type of eye movement is generated in prenuclear cortical and subcortical areas which are activated depending on the type of eye movement performed. Knowledge about the anatomy of these areas enables us to make a clinical diagnosis or to localize the pathological process to a specific area in many neurological conditions. Examination of eye movements are thus a valuable clinical tool in many neurological and neuroophthalmological diseases. The first part of this two-part contribution presents the different types of eye movements, the concept of neural integration, and prenuclear structures important for horizontal eye movement as well as the pertinent pathology. The second part will appear in the next issue and deals with the cerebral structures that are relevant for vertical eye movements including their pathology.
Sleep disorders, including restless legs syndrome and periodic limb movement disorder, sleep apnea syndrome, and narcolepsy, are prevalent medical conditions, likely to be seen by practicing psychiatrists. Awareness of these conditions and their presentations, pathophysiology, and treatment allows psychiatrists to treat these conditions where appropriate, to minimize complications and health consequences associated with delayed diagnosis, and to reduce the burden of disease that these conditions may place on patients already experiencing primary psychiatric disorders.
For children whose spasticity and movement disorders are inadequately treated by oral medications and botulinum toxins, neurosurgical procedures are now available to effectively treat spasticity, tremor, and many cases of dystonia. Spastic diplegia can be treated with selective lumbar rhizotomies, which significantly decrease spasticity, increase range of motion, and improve Gross Motor Function Measure scores. Children with spastic quadriparesis and those with secondary dystonia can be treated with intrathecal baclofen, which diminishes both spasticity and dystonia and is associated with improved function and quality of life. Children with primary dystonia and those with tremor can be treated with deep brain stimulation of the internal globus pallidus and thalamus, respectively. Some children with chorea respond to deep brain stimulation. There are no effective neurosurgical treatments for athetosis or ataxia. The effectiveness of neurosurgical treatments of pediatric movement disorders has increased significantly in the past 15 years.
Of 242 patients with carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning examined between 1986 and 1996, delayed movement disorders were diagnosed in 32 (13. 2%). There were 15 men and 17 women. Ages at insult ranged from 9 to 69 years (mean 45.3 years). Of the 32 patients with delayed movement disorders, 23 (71.9%) had parkinsonism, 5 dystonia, 3 chorea and 1 myoclonus. All were associated with delayed CO encephalopathy. The median latency between CO poisoning and the onset of movement disorders was 4 weeks for parkinsonism, 51 weeks for dystonia, 4 weeks for chorea and 8 weeks for myoclonus. The latency of dystonia onset after CO poisoning was longer than that of other types of movement disorders. The CT findings in delayed movement disorders after CO poisoning were variable, and there was no correlation between the sites of imaging and the development of movement disorders. Abnormal dyskinesias disappeared within 8 weeks, and patients recovered from parkinsonism within 6 months. In conclusion, delayed movement disorders after CO poisoning are not rare, and usually appear as a part of delayed CO encephalopathy. The prognosis is good.
Hyperkinetic movement disorders may develop as a complication of stereotactic thalamotomy or pallidotomy. However, such movement disorders are uncommon after nonsterotactic intracranial operations. The authors report three cases of involuntary movement disorders unexpectedly developing after intracranial operations. The patients had undergone clipping of an internal carotid aneurysm, removal of an intracerebral hematoma, and resection of a tentorial meningioma. Two patients developed choreic movements and a dystonic posture of the unilateral upper extremity. One patient showed a tremor that had features of both parkinsonism and essential tremor. The symptoms of these patients were medically uncontrollable, and they were successfully treated with stereotactic ventrolateral thalamotomy.
Drug-induced and tardive movement disorders represent a large number of extrapyramidal disorders seen in neurologic practice. Iatrogenically induced, most commonly by neuroleptics, these disorders can be characterized by any abnormal body movement including tremor, chorea, athetosis, dyskinesias, dystonia, myoclonus, tics, ballismus or akathisia. Parkinsonism, dyskinesias and dystonia tend to be the most common. Management of patients with drug-induced or tardive syndromes is complex. Prognosis is frequently poor as patients usually need the offending agent to manage their underlying psychiatric or medical problem. Neuroleptics and other drugs known commonly to cause movement disorders should be used cautiously and significant consideration of all risks and benefits measured before initiating therapy.
It is well known that brain injury or central traumatic lesions may result in the subsequent appearance of movement disorders such as dystonia or tremor. The concept that peripheral lesions to neural structures may be involved in the pathogenesis of movement disorders has been discussed controversely but has gained more widespread acceptance only recently. Here, we report on 6 patients who developed movement disorders after spinal disc surgery. The movement disorders became manifest with a delay of 1 day to 12 months after surgery. Of the six patients, 4 underwent cervical disc surgery, and 2 patients were operated on for lumbar disc herniation; 2 patients presented with paroxysmal kinesigenic segmental dystonia, 1 patient with focal dystonia, 2 with unilateral tremor, and 1 with bilateral tremor. The appearance of the movement disorder was associated with persistent dermatomal or segmental pain. In all patients, the anatomic distribution of the movement disorder was related to the nerve root or spinal segment of the corresponding disc level and the manifestation was in close temporal relation to the surgery. We conclude that spinal disc surgery may be another, thus far neglected, cause for movement disorders. The postoperative pain syndrome in all patients should be considered as an important factor of pathogenesis. Overall, movement disorders associated with disc surgery appear to be rare, yet they may cause significant discomfort to the affected individual.
The occurrence of degenerative spinal disease subsequent to dystonic movement disorders has been neglected and has received more attention only recently. Spinal surgery is challenging with regard to continuous mechanical stress when treatment of the underlying movement disorder is insufficient. To characterize better the particular features of degenerative spinal disease in patients with dystonia and to analyze operative strategies, we reviewed the available published data. Epidemiologic studies reveal that degenerative spinal disorders in patients with dystonia and choreoathetosis occur much earlier than in the physiological aging process. Dystonic movement disorders more often affect the spine at higher cervical levels (C(2-5)), in contrast to spinal degeneration with age which manifests more frequently at the middle and lower cervical spine (C(5-7)). Degenerative changes of the cervical spine are more likely to occur on the side where the chin is rotated or tilted to. Various operative approaches for treatment of spinal pathologies have been advocated in patients with dystonic movement disorders. The available data do not allow making firm statements regarding the superiority of one approach over the other. Posterior approaches were first used for decompression, but additional anterior fusion became necessary in many instances. Anterior approaches with or without instrumented fusion yielded more favorable results, but drawbacks are pseudarthrosis and adjacent-level disease. Parallel to the development of posterior fusion techniques, circumferential surgery was suggested to provide a maximum degree of cord decompression and a higher fusion rate. Perioperative local injections of botulinum toxin were used initially to enhance patient comfort with halo immobilization, but they are also applied in patients without external fixation nowadays. Treatment algorithms directed at the underlying movement disorder itself, taking advantage of new techniques of functional neurosurgery, combined with spinal surgery have recently been introduced and show promising results.
Of 125 patients with neuroleptic (dopamine blocking) drug-induced movement disorders who had been referred to a specialized clinic to differentiate the predominant movement disorder, 63% had tardive dyskinesia, 30% had parkinsonism, 24% had dystonia, 7% had akathisia, and 2% had isolated tremor. Two or more movement disorders coexisted in 31 patients (25%). Functional disability was more severe in patients with akathisia than in other patients. Women outnumbered men at a ratio of 4:1, except for tardive dystonia which affected both sexes equally. The average at onset was 56 years (range, 13 to 87); 69 patients (55%) had onset of movement disorder in the sixth decade. While tardive dystonia was distributed relatively evenly in all age groups, almost a third of patients with parkinsonism had it in the eighth decade. Haloperidol was implicated in 47 patients (37%), followed by amitriptyline/perphenazine in 30%, thioridazine in 27%, and chlorpromazine in 20%. Metoclopramide-induced movement disorders were found in 10 (8%). Most patients (101 or 81%) had history of psychiatric illnesses, but of these only 44 had psychosis. Neuroleptic drugs had been prescribed for 33 patients (26%) who had gastrointestinal problems. It is important to recognize and differentiate various drug-induced movement disorders because such differentiation has pathophysiologic and therapeutic implications. Many patients could have been treated with less potent drugs.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The authors describe the neurological presentation and CT/MRI findings in 4 patients exposed to overdoses of decoctions of two different Chinese herbs. Case 1, a 15-year-old boy, ingested herba serissae along with the safe-dosage Salvia miltiorrhiza for treating a left renal stone. Sophora subprostrata root (SSR) was primarily used for treating three other diseases: viral B hepatitis in case 2, a 9-year-old boy; infection of the throat and a low fever in case 3, a 11-year-old girl, and a minor facial infection in case 4, a 12-year-old boy. All patients showed complex neurological manifestations primarily including convulsions, mental changes and dystonia syndromes. Their CT and/or MRI revealed abnormal density lesions in the striatum and globus pallidus bilaterally. They excluded the possibility of Wilson's disease in each of the 4 patients and suggested that overdosage of SSR and herba serissae could cause intoxications of the central nervous system, particularly damage to the basal ganglia. Chemically, coumarin (case 1) and matrine and oxymatrine (cases 2-4) in the two medicinal herbs are suggested to be possibly responsible for the morbidity.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.